72 Monaco resurrection.

60Buick

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Location
Athens Ga
I just acquired this one 2 days ago. A friend of mine got stuck with it and I was very happy to get it from him. I'll explain what I mean after I describe the car.

Its an all original 72 Monaco and the 43k mileage is correct. It has been locked in a garage since 1996 and was garage kept most of its life. It had not seen daylight in almost 25 years until recently. It has no rust and came from the original family....sort of...more on that in a minute. The engine spins over. Rats have eaten some wiring on the motor. Everything mechanical should be pretty straightforward to bring back. Cosmetically the paint is good other than a pass lower quarter dent repair from way back that needs to be redone. The rest should be presentable with polish and wax. It is the original paint so I want to save what I can. The vinyl top cleans up but needs to be replaced. The interior is good but smells musty. It has a few stains but should clean up and it's not dried out. I think it will be a good car to get back on the road for trips with my family when we do stuff with our old car friends. I really like this car and think it has a good home with me. I plan to preserve it and enjoy the car. It will fit in with my collection of oddball cars.

So... a friend of mine reluctantly got this car, he is a 69 Charger and station wagon guy. He did not want this car. His is mother is a friend of the family that owned the Monaco. He had a really nice General Lee for a while and years ago his mother had him take his General Lee to a birthday party for a little girl where she told him her dad had a Dodge like his in the garage. That girl is now an adult and her dad was now deceased. His widow wanted to reclaim the garage the Monaco has been sitting in but they didn't know who to call or what to do with the old junk car. The daughter remembering the General Lee from her youth called my friends mother to see if he wanted another one. He was extremely excited to go get another 69 Charger since he is Chargerless at the moment. They raised the garage door and instead of a 69 Charger sat a 4 door Monaco under a cover, 6 inches of dust and a crap ton of boxes. The widow was asking him to make an offer but he didn't want it and could not come up with a polite way to say that. She was throwing numbers thinking it was a money issue but he was politely declining. At some point her numbers were too good to walk away from. He dug it out loaded it, rinsed it off at the local car wash and called me to tell me I need a 72 Monaco. I like more doors, we agreed on a price and he drove 300 miles to drop it off at my door.

So far all I have had time to do is make sure the engine was not locked, remove the acorns from the air cleaner, pull the carb and headlight motor to rebuild them, give it a bath and clean out the trunk. The car was only used to go to church by grandma when new, when she died the dad got it and he only used it for vacations. Luckily when he died his daughter called my buddy and not a scrapper. I could see it being scrapped, derbied or parted out for the 400.

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Nice survivor and good to hear the old gal is in caring hands. Best of luck with her and do keep us posted! Welcome to the forum too.:thumbsup:
 
Nice find, take some Pine-Sol to the interior and that will probably get rid of the musty smell. A/C box may also be full of acorns as the critters tend to hide them everywhere. Looks to be well optioned, can see A/C, deluxe radio and rear window defogger. I would suggest pulling the fuel tank to clean it out as any fuel that was in the car is likely sludge by now. Replace the master cylinder, all brake hoses, calipers and wheel cylinders. (You can rebuild the calipers and wheel cylinders as long as they are not pitted) Drain the old coolant and check all hoses for cracks etc., they are likely rotted. Replace the belts and all rubber fuel lines. Probably want to replace the cap, rotor and plugs while you are at it. Give each cylinder a shot of oil before attempting to start.
This car should be a very pleasurable driver once it is cleaned up and the effects of long inactivity are remedied. I would also suggest replacing the timing gears as the factory plastic upper one is likely very brittle given it's age.

Dave
 
I just acquired this one 2 days ago. A friend of mine got stuck with it and I was very happy to get it from him. I'll explain what I mean after I describe the car.

Its an all original 72 Monaco and the 43k mileage is correct. It has been locked in a garage since 1996 and was garage kept most of its life. It had not seen daylight in almost 25 years until recently. It has no rust and came from the original family....sort of...more on that in a minute. The engine spins over. Rats have eaten some wiring on the motor. Everything mechanical should be pretty straightforward to bring back. Cosmetically the paint is good other than a pass lower quarter dent repair from way back that needs to be redone. The rest should be presentable with polish and wax. It is the original paint so I want to save what I can. The vinyl top cleans up but needs to be replaced. The interior is good but smells musty. It has a few stains but should clean up and it's not dried out. I think it will be a good car to get back on the road for trips with my family when we do stuff with our old car friends. I really like this car and think it has a good home with me. I plan to preserve it and enjoy the car. It will fit in with my collection of oddball cars.

So... a friend of mine reluctantly got this car, he is a 69 Charger and station wagon guy. He did not want this car. His is mother is a friend of the family that owned the Monaco. He had a really nice General Lee for a while and years ago his mother had him take his General Lee to a birthday party for a little girl where she told him her dad had a Dodge like his in the garage. That girl is now an adult and her dad was now deceased. His widow wanted to reclaim the garage the Monaco has been sitting in but they didn't know who to call or what to do with the old junk car. The daughter remembering the General Lee from her youth called my friends mother to see if he wanted another one. He was extremely excited to go get another 69 Charger since he is Chargerless at the moment. They raised the garage door and instead of a 69 Charger sat a 4 door Monaco under a cover, 6 inches of dust and a crap ton of boxes. The widow was asking him to make an offer but he didn't want it and could not come up with a polite way to say that. She was throwing numbers thinking it was a money issue but he was politely declining. At some point her numbers were too good to walk away from. He dug it out loaded it, rinsed it off at the local car wash and called me to tell me I need a 72 Monaco. I like more doors, we agreed on a price and he drove 300 miles to drop it off at my door.

So far all I have had time to do is make sure the engine was not locked, remove the acorns from the air cleaner, pull the carb and headlight motor to rebuild them, give it a bath and clean out the trunk. The car was only used to go to church by grandma when new, when she died the dad got it and he only used it for vacations. Luckily when he died his daughter called my buddy and not a scrapper. I could see it being scrapped, derbied or parted out for the 400.

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Want a spare tail light lense ?
 
Yeah, the drivers side has a bad spot on it and I need to find a better one. It would not hurt to have an extra passenger side. Either way I'm interested.
 
That is much much nicer than the one on the car now. The original was poorly repaired at some point. I definitely want it. I am sending you a PM. Thank you

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Great car! Love it! Reminds me of the 73 Monaco I had years ago.
 
Great find! Love the picture of the trunk pan. Vinyl top cars where the trunk isn't rusted are a rare find.
 
Welcome! @Davea Lux is spot on. I have a 1971 Monaco that I have brought back to a reliable long-distance driver together with @71Polara383. There are some mechanical differences between the 1972 and 1971 models, but you may find the choices of parts that we made useful -- this thread provides details about various processes and the references/links may save you time.
 
Very useful thread indeed. A beautiful 71 as well. I agree Davea Lux's advice is pretty solid. I plan on cleaning up the interior tomorrow. His pine sol tip will be used. I plan on pulling the plugs and putting some oil in the cylinders to sit for a few days before I try to fire it up. I have some very busy days ahead of me this week so I can get it out of the street and indoors.
 
Very useful thread indeed. A beautiful 71 as well. I agree Davea Lux's advice is pretty solid. I plan on cleaning up the interior tomorrow. His pine sol tip will be used. I plan on pulling the plugs and putting some oil in the cylinders to sit for a few days before I try to fire it up. I have some very busy days ahead of me this week so I can get it out of the street and indoors.

I would not try to fire it from the vehicle gas tank, you may suck up a bunch of crud and cause more problems. Hook the inlet on the fuel pump to a small container of fuel, that way you get clean fuel to the pump and carb. I usually run a long enough fuel hose to set the fuel container on the ground so that it does not tip over when the vehicle starts.

Dave
 
Very useful thread indeed. A beautiful 71 as well. I agree Davea Lux's advice is pretty solid. I plan on cleaning up the interior tomorrow. His pine sol tip will be used. I plan on pulling the plugs and putting some oil in the cylinders to sit for a few days before I try to fire it up. I have some very busy days ahead of me this week so I can get it out of the street and indoors.
One thing I did when starting an engine from a long slumber, is pulling the distributor and turning the oil pump shaft until oil shows up at the rocker shafts.
 
The rain was off and on all day so it ruined my plans to do stuff to the car but I did try to see if the paint would come back. I did the rear deck area and it went from "only shines when wet" to a real nice finish. The lower quarter on the passenger side will need to be painted. The last pictures didn't really show how bad the paint was in that spot. Luckily that area is bordered by trim so no blending. I think the rest of the paint will be nice enough to save after polishing. Other than the lower quarter I couldn't find so much as a parking lot ding. The rear bumper has a dent. I may try to locate a new rear bumper and make a wall hanger out of the one on it.

Hopefully the rain will hold off this week to start patching the damaged wiring and get it running.

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